“Many former homeowners could start buying again this year and give metro Phoenix’s housing market a much-needed boost.

They are called boomerang buyers because they were thrown out of the mortgage market after foreclosures or short sales during the crash but now can qualify for a home loan again.

Most lenders require a seven-year sitting out period for borrowers who default on home loans. That waiting period is over this year for the first wave of people to lose houses during the crash.

A new report from national real estate research firm RealtyTrac says as many as 350,000 boomerang buyers could purchase metro Phoenix houses between now and 2022. That’s about how many Valley houses were foreclosed on or sold through short sales during the crash.